"This election won't hinge on technology issues. Just look at prevailing discussions this year at the national level: major candidates have sparred over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the role of government, inane comments on the female body, and to nobody's surprise, the economy. Despite that fact, many decisions will be taken up by the next US president and those in Congress that will affect the world of tech, and by consequence, the real lives of citizens and human beings around the world - from alternative energy, to the use of killer drones, the regulation of wireless spectrum, and policies that aim to control content on the internet. Your chance to vote is just around the corner. Here's what's at stake in tech this election, and how the major candidates could influence our future." Happy voting, American readers. Whatever you pick, please take at least a few minutes to consider that the implications of your choice do not end at the US border.

I think this is leading up something more than just "who" controls the government: the importance of an efficiency-driven government. Of course I'd agree this is important. To the extent that businesses are proficient at improving efficiency, then insight from the business world should be welcomed.

However, businesses don't necessarily push efficiency as much as we'd think. I worked behind the scenes subcontracting for a major health insurer, and the overhead there is simply astonishing. You and I might see overhead as an opportunity to slimline the waste, but the company took the exact opposite approach. Why sign a contract for $X when they could add more work and get $X+$500K? The thing is they were profitable, but not efficient. The inefficiency itself was actually a *source* of profit. On the one hand, they might deserve praise for increasing profits, but on the other hand, how can they live with themselves for being part of the reason health care is so unaffordable?

Edit: Note, I have no what I'd do personally as president today to get ourselves out of the mess...I'd try to get as much data as possible and run numerous economic simulations to see which variables are most important for influencing the economy in positive ways. But I doubt anyone like me could be elected on this kind of platform